4-6 Railway Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Mid terrace three-storey rendered former house, built c.1830 with mid twentieth-century shopfront to ground floor and two-storey rear return. Set among a terrace of four similar houses lining the east side of Railway street.

Pitched natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles, a shared rendered chimneystack to the south with octagonal clay pots and replacement metal guttering. Painted ruled and lined rendered walling. Square-headed window openings with original timber sash windows and masonry sills.

Front elevation has original 6/3 timber sash windows to the second floor with cylinder glass and replacement top hung timber casement windows to the first floor. Recessed timber shopfront inserted c.1980 with terrazzo front area and lead-lined timber fascia spanning entire elevation.

North side elevation abutted by adjoining building No.8 (HB19/13/025B).

Rubble stone rear elevation abutted by gable-ended two-storey redbrick return and small rear yard enclosed by redbrick wall. Original timber sash windows throughout with redbrick linings and some cylinder glass.

South side elevation abutted by adjoining building No.2 Railway Street.

Setting:
One of four similar former houses among a terrace of varying dates and heights lining the east side of Railway Street. Red brick yard wall to rear. The rear plots have been converted to a gravel car park accessed from Castle Street.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Replacement metal
Walling Ruled and lined render / rubblestone
Windows Original timber sash

Historical information

This street was formerly known as Jackson’s Lane; however it was renamed Railway Street c. 1840 with the arrival of the first railway line between Lisburn and Belfast (Neill). This three-storey building at the end of the street which houses both Nos. 4 and 6 Railway Street can first be seen on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833, although it, and the neighbouring Nos. 8 to 12 Railway Street, were most likely constructed earlier as their Georgian design indicates (field research would support a construction date of c. 1830). A detailed plan of the town centre by Thomas Pattison c. 1830 indicates that Nos. 4 to 12 were the only buildings of the current terrace to be constructed along the road to the Railway line at this time.

From at least 1898 until the end of the Second World War, the ground level of this building was divided into two shops (Bass). In 1901 No. 6 Railway Street was occupied by Mrs. Margaret Armstrong who operated a small Temperance Hotel and connectionist shop from the premises. The 1901 census building return for part of the street is missing; however in 1911 the census enumerator described No. 6 as a 1st class shop which consisted of nine rooms and possessed a slated roof. In 1911 Margaret Armstrong (48) occupied the building with her daughter Evelyn (23).

In 1910 the Ulster Towns Directory records that No. 4 Railway Street was used as the joint premises of a hairdressers shop operated by J. F. Armstrong (it is unclear whether this was a relative of Margaret Armstrong although it was certainly not her husband as Mrs. Armstrong had been widowed from at least 1901) and also Johnson Brothers, a Dyers shop.

Bass tells us that Nos. 4 and 6 Railway Street were owned by Sir. James Musgrave, a local businessman and Justice of the Peace. Musgrave let No. 6 to Margaret Armstrong in 1898; after her death her daughter Evelyn took over possession of the hotel and shop which she continued to run until 1955 when a post-war decline in business forced her to close her premises. With the closure of the shop Evelyn Armstrong retired to the upstairs rooms of the house where she lived out the rest of her days until her death in 1962. The ground floor of Nos. 4 and 6 Railway Street was then converted into a single shop; bass tells us that the former hotel became a children’s wear shop operated by a Ms. Jean Simpson who occupied the premises until at least 1977 (Bass). In 1969 Brett described Nos. 4 and 6 Railway Street as one of a terrace of ‘good three-storey Georgian brick or stucco houses with glazing bars intact... the backs of [which] are of stone’ (Brett, p. 13). Recently, the ground floor of the building was converted into premises for a cafe and restaurant; however this cafe has since closed down and the ground floor currently lies vacant.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI MIC/664/1 – Picture of Lisburn by Thomas Pattison c. 1830
2. PRONI OS/6/1/68/1 – First edition OS map 1833
3. PRONI OS/6/1/68/2 – Second edition OS map 1857
4. PRONI OS/6/1/68/3 – Third edition OS map c.1900
5. PRONI OS/6/1/68/4 – Fourth edition OS map 1920
6. 1901 / 1911 Census
7. Ulster Towns Directory (1910)

Secondary Sources

1. Bass, H. G., ‘A short history of an old family firm: Records and recollections of Alexander Boyd & Co. Ltd’ Lisburn: 1977 (Pamphlet).
2. Brett, C. E. B., ‘List of historic buildings, buildings of architectural importance in the Borough of Lisburn’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1969.
3. Neill, T., ‘Lisburn: an illustrated history and companion’ Lisburn: Cottage Publications, 1996.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Mid terrace three-storey rendered former house, built c.1830 with mid twentieth-century shopfront. Whilst the replacement shopfront detracts from the character of the house, the upper floors, rear elevation and external materials remain largely intact. This building, dating from the late Georgian period, is one of the earliest in Railway Street, and has group value with numbers 8,10, and 12 Railway Street.

General comments

This record was completed without access to original source material held by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.